Written by
Monica Karpinski
Medically reviewed by
Kelda Gould
Fertility Nurse • BN in Adult Nursing
One cycle of IVF can take anywhere from about 4 weeks to 3 months, depending on your situation. For example, there are different protocols for taking fertility medicines which each work to their own timelines (more on this below).
But if we’re talking about an average figure: the HFEA reports that in the UK, one cycle of IVF takes 4-6 weeks for most people. At ARGC, it usually takes a little longer, because of our thorough approach. With us, it’s usually about 2-3 months from your initial appointment to your pregnancy test.
To give you an idea of what you can expect, here’s what IVF timelines usually look like.
We’ve covered the IVF process in more depth in another article. Below, here’s an overview of how long each step generally takes.
Usually 45 minutes to an hour
Your first appointment with your clinic. Here at ARGC, your consultation will be with one of our doctors. They will ask you about your medical and fertility history, including any previous treatments you’ve had.
Between 21-35 days
At ARGC, before any treatment is done we monitor your hormone levels across one complete, natural menstrual cycle. This helps us to understand your body’s unique rhythms and patterns. We then use this information to build your personalised treatment plan.
Long protocols can take 4-5 weeks, short protocols generally take 10-14 days
Next comes the part when you take medicine that stimulates your ovaries to grow more eggs. Here, your clinic will advise on which type of treatment plan is best: a long or short protocol. They will weigh up your health and medical history, age, and more when making the call.
But for either protocol, the exact length of your stimulation phase depends on how your follicles are developing. We do daily blood tests and regular scans to monitor this at ARGC. When your follicles have matured to the right level, we give a “trigger shot” to prompt the final stage of growth, so that they are ready for collection.
One day
Egg collection is a quick and relatively straightforward procedure. You won’t feel any pain. Once we’ve retrieved your eggs, we fertilise them in the lab on the same day.
2-3 or 5-6 days
Depending on how the embryo develops, you could wait either 2-3 or 5-6 days after fertilisation to have your transfer. The transfer procedure itself is gentle and will be over quickly. Most people go home on the same day.
Usually 10-12 days
This step is called the two-week wait, but most people actually wait around 10-12 days after transfer before taking a pregnancy test. How long you’ll wait depends on when the embryo was transferred. For 2-3 day transfers, the pregnancy test is generally done 12 days after the procedure. If you had a 5-6 day transfer, you’ll wait around 10 days.
When you do IVF with us, we will continue to monitor you throughout this time: we’ll do a blood test to check your progesterone levels every 2-3 days. This bit is unique to ARGC . It’s a way for us to make sure your progesterone levels stay high enough to provide a supportive environment for the embryo.
One appointment at the end of the two-week wait
We do this via blood test because it’s the most accurate way. You’ll come into the clinic for the test and we’ll ring you as soon as we have the results.
With the estimates above (including the steps that are unique to ARGC):
If you had a short protocol, one IVF cycle can take 6-10 weeks
If you had a long protocol, one IVF cycle can take 9-13 weeks
Note: In these estimates, we’ve counted the consultation appointment as one day.
Having ICSI doesn’t add any extra time to your IVF cycle. It’s a technique done in the lab to help with fertilisation: a single sperm is selected and injected carefully into the egg, rather than putting egg and sperm in a lab dish and letting the process happen naturally.
So, an ICSI cycle would be the same length as a traditional IVF cycle.
For 5-6 day transfers, implantation (where the embryo attaches to the lining of the womb) usually happens between 1-5 days after transfer. If you had a 2-3 day transfer, you could expect implantation to happen about 5-9 days later.
Learn more about what happens after embryo transfer.
When you’re using donor eggs, you don’t have to go through stimulation or egg collection. That means your IVF timeline could look a little different:
So, in total, your treatment cycle could be between roughly 7-12 weeks.
These estimates can give you an idea of what it’s like to do IVF. But your body is unique, and your IVF treatment should be tailored to you personally.
That's why at ARGC, we don’t do pre-set treatment plans. We build your treatment around you: your health and medical history, and your unique biology. We monitor you closely throughout to see how you’re responding, and make any real-time adjustments to your plan as needed.
Working in this way is intense, but we do it to give you the best possible chance of becoming a parent.
Wondering whether ARGC is right for you? Our advisory calls are free, no-obligation, and led by someone who can answer your specific questions about treatment, costs, and what to expect. Book a free advisory call to get started.
Fertility Nurse • BN in Adult Nursing
Kelda Gould is a Registered Nurse specialising in fertility care. She holds a degree in Biochemistry and has over a decade of clinical experience spanning general nursing, outpatients, first response, and fertility care.
IVF timeline: overview